a mish mash of stuff

The boys started school in September, Noah in 5th grade and Benjamin in Kindergarten, we are back at CPLS, which is so awesome!  Such a great school, and the boys are so happy with their teachers, Noah has an awesome teacher, a man, which is working out so well for him!  Benjamin has the sweetest teacher, he loves her!

This year Noah went through one of the many rites of passage that he will experience at CPLS.  This year was his Latin Naming Ceremony.

Noah's Latin name is Motus, which means motion.  Very aptly named.

This year we have been lucky to have Kindergarten/5th grade book buddies, its nice that we have a Kindergartner and 5th Grader!  Out first outing together was the Pumpkin Patch.

 Benjamin and his book buddy Caleb.

 Noah and his book buddy Spencer.

 Brother and sister.

 Such a big girl!

 Ella and her sweet friend Reese.

Me and my girl!

Big Boy!

My girl

This is Ella.  She is 2.  I've raised 2 other 2 year old prior to her, but she takes 2 to a whole new level. 

She's beautiful, happy, funny, and likes to play in the toilet.  And color on walls.

She sings Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Jesus Loves Me at the top of her lungs.  She also spits her chocolate milk out down her white shirt.  She no longer gets chocolate milk.

She laughs a lot and she loves, loves, loves her brothers.  She also bites, smacks and kicks her brothers, all out of love, I'm sure.

She loves to play dress up, loves the color pink and loves to smear pudding, jello, ice cream or yogurt in her hair, the moment mommy gets up from the table.

She is tough as nails, and can fall down, fall off of things, and get right back up.  She also screams bloody murder if you tell her no.

She wants to be a "Big" girl, but still isn't ready to give up her beloved binky.

She is fearless, and scares her mommy to death on many, many, many, many occasions.  Many.

This is Ella, she is 2, she STILL does not sleep through the night.

I love you Ella Boo, you are the light of my life, and even though make me question my parenting skills, every single day, I wouldn't trade this time in your life for anything.  Tomorrow I will be teaching you how to scrub ink pen off the dining room walls.  :)

The ups and downs of life.

This past months has been.....tumultuous, emotional, crazy, pull my hair out because I think I am losing it, kind of month.  Good things are happening, but lots and lots of bad things have happened to bring those good things around.  Circle of life, I guess.

This has helped me a lot.  I love coffee.  I love the smell, the taste, the color, everything.  It makes me so very happy.  I also love pretty coffee cups.  This one is lovely, it makes me smile.

I would not have made it this past month without coffee, diet coke, Jesus, and my husband.  Jesus would come first in that list and then my husband and then coffee and diet coke, you get the picture.  Anyway, God is so good, I have been praying a lot and He has been very faithful.  I know those reading may be a little foggy about what I am talking about, so I guess I will fill you all in.

For years my oldest son has struggled with school, paying attention, being kind to friends, being respectful, obedience, you name it.  He was diagnosed with ADHD last summer, so my hopes in writing this is that some parents who are where we are will read it and know that they are not alone, even though it feels like it.  Just a few short weeks ago, we were at a place of absolute despair and we felt like we were in an un-winnable battle.  Thankfully we started on some new medicine and after much research I came across a book that I feel is changing our lives.  It is called "The Explosive Child" by Ross W. Greene.  I am only on the 3rd chapter, but I have cried more than I thought possible while reading a book.   In the book, the author states how there is no other group of children who are so misunderstood.  That is my boy, misunderstood, even by my husband and I, until I started to read this book, I was like everyone else.  I would look at him, and think, why does he act like that, why does he do those things, say those things,....for years I have been so consumed about whether or not he behaved the "right" way and what others thought about him and how his behavior reflected on me as a parent.  I am done with it.  It breaks my heart to think about all the pressure I have put on my child to meet up to expectations that he just can't meet.  He tried, bless his heart, he tried, but after so long he just couldn't take it.  
I am over worrying about what everyone else thinks, all that matters now, is the 6 people living in this tiny yellow house, that we have Jesus in our hearts and love for each other.  Is my son going to get into trouble, act out, hurt other kids' feeling, yes, he is, will he be sorry for it, yes, will I condemn him, no, not anymore.  He will be forgiven, just as Jesus forgave me.  Do I care what others think?  Nope.  I am through putting that pressure on my boy and myself.  God is changing me, He is changing my son, and it is an awesome thing.  The book I mentioned is changing the way that we parent, and the way we see our child.  He is different, but not in a bad way, different in a very good, complex way.  And that is ok, it is the way God made him, and I love that.  Its going to be a long, long road, we are not even close to being out of the woods, but God is showing us the way, through good doctors, counselors, books and His faithful love.  Hope is here.

If you are a parent and have had a child who has been diagnosed with ADHD, OCD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Bi-Polar, intermittent explosive disorder, Tourette's, depression, or any other learning disability, you NEED to read this book.  You will be so glad that you did! 

More Random

I am really struggling with this weather.  I need to be warm, I need to be outside, my KIDS need to be outside.  I feel like I am losing my mind cooped up in the house all day.  So as I look through pictures of warmer days, I am sharing one of my favorites.

 

This day was the hottest of the year last summer.  It was one of those days where if your outside too long you might get sick.  I would love to have that day right now, I will always take being hot, over being cold!

Oh, summer, how I miss you!

A few days ago my husband bought me a dozen roses.  They are beautiful.  He is such a wonderful man.  I am so blessed to have a husband like him, not because he is awesome about giving me flowers and other gifts, but because of the amazing person he is.  He loves me so much, despite all of my flaws.  He is so faithful and loving.   Sometimes I can't fathom how some one like me, is lucky enough to be married to such a genuinely good man like him.  God is cool like that. 

Have a good weekend all!

SNOW!!!

***Holy cow, I haven't posted since Halloween!  My life has been crazy, lots of things have happened over the past few months, most very hard and challenging, but some good too.  I am glad its a new year, I have much hope that this year will be much better than that last 2 have been for our family! 

Yesterday we had our first snow of the season and our 1st Snow Day, so I bundled everyone up and out we went to play!

They had so much fun, Ella lasted a whole hour, which amazed me!  She kept losing her balance and falling face first into the snow, after about the 10th time, she was done.  Can you tell by her face?

Benjamin was in heaven, he loves to be outside in any type of weather, but snow, snow is this boy's dream come true.

 

Noah had a good time too, but he was mostly concerned with clearing the sidewalk and the driveway for daddy.  He worked for almost 2 hours, he just wouldn't give up, I had to bribe him with hot chocolate and jelly beans to get him to come in!

Today we are on Snow Day #2, it got much much colder overnight, so we've spent the entire day watching movies on Netflix!

Happy Tuesday to everyone!

Hair or not to hair?

Noah wants to be a cool skater punk. He is obsessed with skating. We have to visit the skate shop every time we are at the mall, we always watch the X games, he asks to go to the skate park 1000 times a day, and he sleeps with his skate board. Now, as cool skater punks go, they all have long hair. Noah goes to a school where there is a dress code and long hair on boys is not allowed, so every May, he starts growing out his hair.

This is as long as it got this summer, but he very much thought he was super cool.

Benjamin of course had long hair this summer too, because he's cool like that.

Such pretty locks he had!

And here's the new do.

Noah actually likes his hair cut!

Buds.

My quest for the perfect easter dress.

I waited a long time to get my baby girl, 33 years to be exact. There are many things I love about having a girl, one of those is the fact that she wears dresses. One thing that I always remember my mom doing, a tradition of ours, was getting my Easter dress. So, this being Ella's first Easter, I wanted something special, pretty, poufy and perfect. I started my quest about 3 weeks ago. I have been to Kohls, Target, Gordmans, Childrens Place, The Gap, Gymboree, Macys, Burlington and Babies R Us. Nothing, nada, neicht, zilch. Tonight I decided to go back to the mall, even though I had been there before and found nothing. I walked into Macys and spotted a pretty, simple pink dress on the clearance rack, it was on sale, it was sweet, it would work. I asked the sales girl to hold it and moved on. I walked to Burlington Coat Factory, blech, horrible dresses. next, Gymboree, love the clothes in this store, do not love the prices, so I was super excited when I found a pretty little pink dress on sale with an additional 20 percent off! Jackpot? No, upon further inspection the dress looked like it had been returned, not what my little princess would be wearing. I proceeded on to Childrens Place, horrible colors, to bright, not dainty enough, next stop the Gap, where I fell in love with the most precious dress, but once I bought the dress and sweater that went with it, I would have been in serious hot water with the hubster. So, begrudgingly, I left the pretty perfect dress at the Gap, and started my way back to Macys. Then I cruised past JC Pennys and decided to look in there, while walking in I prayed that there would be a dress that I loved and that it would be on sale. Then I saw it, a dress I loved, it was perfect. But not Ella's size. COME ON! I bought it anyway and prayed all the way home, that it would fit. It did, thank you Jesus! Did I mention, it was on sale???!!!!! Look for pictures of my sweet princess soon!